Destiny's Road
by FlamingWolf
Summary: AU Path of Radiance. Some of it will follow the game, but much of it will diverge into other routes. Chapter 8- the unseen force once more teleports Ike across the continent to test him... along with Titania, Rhys, and Mist this time.
1. Mirage

The smell of hot sand surrounded Ike on all sides, and even with his eyes closed, the sun pounded into his eyes with a devastating intensity. He opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't- the sun reflected off the encompassing dunes, nearly blinding him instantly. He was hot, thirsty, and had no idea as to how he had wound up in a desert- when he had gone to sleep, he had been in his room deep within the barracks that served his father's mercenary troupe.

He wore the same clothing he had on the previous day- blue cape with red lining, graying breeches that had once been white, fingerless swordsman's gloves, a blue tunic, and worn boots. Around his waist was a blue cloth belt, a sword made of iron, and a small canteen of something that sloshed with a sound that inspired hope.

With trembling fingers, he drew off the belt, wrapping it tightly around his forehead to catch the sweat that rolled relentlessly into his eyes. With no way of knowing where he was or how he had gotten there, Ike realized that trying to travel would be fruitless at the moment. He turned his back to the sun, and began to dig into the dune he had on which he had awoken. It took what felt like hours to make a hole in the side. He hesitated, afraid that the sand would drift over him and suffocate him, but he needed shelter of some kind. Once he was safely wrapped in his little cave, out of the glare of the sun, he carefully took a mouthful of the liquid in his canteen, rejoicing that it was clear, cold water. Tying the belt over his mouth to act as a filter, Ike curled up fetally, using his arms and legs to protect his face in case the sand did indeed cave in.

*&*

It was a long time until sunset. He had to wake up a few times to clear a passage for the hot desert air to filter in to him. As the heat began to leave the desert, he climbed his dune to look for any sign of human habitation at all. All he saw was a dark smudge on the horizon. Trees? That would indicate water. Ike began to walk that way.

He had no idea how long he had been trudging. He remembered a chance comment about using stars to navigate and tell time, but he was not at all sure how that worked. He was staggering from hunger and weariness when he realized that the land was growing lighter around him. Scrambling to the top of the next dune, he glanced back and was dismayed to see how much his foot prints straggled behind him. He certainly had not been going in a straight line, and he had no idea whether or not he had been going in the right direction.

With a sigh, he turned to face "forward" again, and grinned in ecstatic relief. The goddess had seen him safely to the oasis he had spotted when he had first set out hours before. He ran forward, the smell of dates urging him on. He fell face forward onto the ground beside the narrow spring of water, slurping noisily as he replenished himself. He finally rose and staggered towards the fruit, his legs unsteady under him.

"That's about far enough," A slow voice drawled from behind him. "Stealing is an offense punishable by death out here."

"You'd think that in an area like this, people would learn to rely on one another more," Ike answered, slowly turning. He heard a sword drawn behind him, and turned sideways, drawing his own as he faced the belligerent man.

Ike rushed the man, who sidestepped him with a fair amount of ease. Ike, undaunted, slashed at the man. They exchanged strikes and counterstrikes for a couple of minutes, until the man's face finally showed some grudging respect.

"Not an untrained pup after all," He muttered, and went on the offensive. Ike stepped backward under the assault, but refused to let up either. Finally, he saw a moment of opening and stabbed forward through his opponent's shoulder. The man grunted and dropped his sword.

"Ike!" A familiar voice called from behind him. He turned in confusion, and jumped to find himself beside the cool river in the woods behind the mercenary compound. Riding towards him was Titania, a cavalry officer and his surrogate mother who had raised him from infancy.

"You've been gone all day! We wasted time that could have been spent training searching for you," She scolded. "From now on, let us know if you're going to wander off!" She dismounted and, before Ike could wonder if he had been hallucinating, she began to brush some of the sand off of him. "Where have you been? And why is there blood on your sword?"

Ike stammered and tried to find a way to explain. Titania cut him off sharply.

"And you didn't take the time to clean off your weapon? Your father would be ashamed of you. I can only hope that you had enough sense to make sure he didn't foul the water."

"No, he fell away from the river," Ike said, his mind whirling. Titania sighed, and a smile crept across her face.

"Ike, what are we going to do with you?" She chuckled, and remounted her horse. She urged the animal over beside Ike and reached down, pulling her into the saddle behind him. He steadied himself, his hands resting automatically on his waist as he thought. He barely noticed when they reached the compound again, Titania's voice a vague background noise as she answered the questions with,

"I found him in the woods. The boy is confused- probably heat stroke. Let him sleep it off."

He felt strong hands lifting him from the saddle and walked unsteadily into the barracks. He stripped and collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He heard his younger sister pounding at the door, but refused to open it. Eventually she went away, and he continued to ponder.

What had happened to him today? And why?

**A/N:** All of the stats for the characters in this story can be found at the CelestialSphere forum on invisionfree. If interested, ask and you shall receive.


	2. Resentment and a Healer

Ike was starting to think he was insane the next day as he mounted up behind Titania to fight the bandit scourge. As he began to slide down from the saddle, she caught his arm. "Ike, keep a hold on your head." She warned. "This airheaded routine of yours the last couple of days is more than likely to get you killed if you don't watch out."

She let go of him and charged forward, striking left and right with her lance as she headed for the houses. Her lips were in a thin line as she heard women screaming and children crying in the center of the village. Ike shook his head to clear it. Not only was she right, but there were a whole bunch of people depending on him right now.

Two bandits roared as they rushed him from two different sides. Ike ducked and weaved, his lean build giving him a speed advantage as the heavy, ax-wielding brutes tried to swing, relying on their strength. After he had dispatched three or four of them, he shook his sweat-soaked hair out of his face, glancing around. Titania had taken up a position in front of the houses, but there was no one menacing her at the moment.

"Holding back to give the new kid some experience, huh?" He shouted.

"We've almost taken care of them," She called back. "Just a swordsman and their boss."

Ike saluted her with his blade and ran for the small commons in the middle of the village. Sure enough, as he ducked around the side of the house, he and a myrmidon spotted one another simultaneously.

His speed was no longer an advantage. A nasty cut crossed his chest by the time he had dispatched of the other man. His own sword was dulled and nicked by the intense fighting. Ike dropped his weapon and picked up the newer, cleaner blade his former enemy had carried.

"Take a breather!" Titania commanded him as she rode past. The rest of the town was secure, so she had come to find out where he had gotten off to. She tossed something at him underhand, and he caught it easily as she cantered past- a vulnerary. Quickly, he bit the top off and swallowed the bitter liquid, feeling a lot better instantly. Hot and tired, he jogged in Titania's wake as she checked the center of the village looking for the boss.

Ike found him first. The two enemies stood, sizing one another up. The other man was unwounded and fairly fresh... but he was overconfident, and underskilled. Ike smiled grimly as he stepped forward and raised his blade again.

*&*

The village headman was talking to Titania when Ike approached. "They managed to steal some of our temple's prized items, most especially a small ceremonial figure of the goddess" he said as Ike leaned against the side of Titania's horse. The older woman was already tucking the pouch with their payment inside her armor. The animal snorted and began to whuffle in Ike's hair. "They kept a fort a little ways up the road there."  
"I can lead you," A good-natured tenor voice said. The two mercenaries turned to see one of the younger village priests standing there, holding his healing rod. It took Ike a moment to place him, then remembered that his father had sometimes paid this fellow- Rhys, he believed- to come to the compound and heal them after particularly rough missions.

"Same terms?" Titania asked. The village headman hesitated- that would be a lot of gold out of the town's coffers. One of the merchants stepped forward.

"I'll make up the difference, madam," He said, smoothly. "After all, we cannot allow the goddess's home in even this little berg to be desecrated."

"I accept," Titania answered. "Both the gold and the guide. We will return before sundown."

They traveled for a ways through the forest, before Rhys stopped and pointed up a well-worn path. "That cabin at the head of the path," He whispered. "It's kind of hard to approach without them seeing."

"I see," Titania said. She turned on Ike. "I'll go get Shinon. You stay put." She named the other mercenary that had stayed around after Greil's death out of some feeling of responsibility towards the commander's children and to his own apprentice, a young boy by the name of Rolf.

Ike nodded and crouched behind a log. The young priest imitated him, though he watched Titania ride off, blushing slightly. Ike began to have a suspicion at about that point.

It seemed to both of the waiting men that Titania had been gone for several hours. Rhys, not used to staying still in the wilderness, began to fidget as ants crawled up his leg. He slapped at the little pests. His leg cramped up. Finally, unable to take it anymore, he stood up and stretched.

"You there!" A voice yelled from the road. Ike peeked slowly up over the log as Rhys froze above him. A man started through the bushes, his sword unsheathed. "What do you think you're doing, come spying around here?! Oy!"

"Damnit!" Ike swore, leaping to his feet and unsheathing his own sword. He shoved the priest behind him as the man advanced. At the top of the road, more bandits came pouring out of the large cabin. Ike leapt on top of the log he had just been sheltering behind to get a better look at what was coming, and to make more of a target for himself, hoping the priest would be overlooked in the confusion. He whirled around in place, meeting sword edge and ax blade cleanly on the edge of his own sword. He was nicked a few times, but each time felt the cool energy of the goddess wash over him as Rhys chanted prayers behind him.

Ike nearly cheered with relief when he heard hoofbeats behind him and Titania burst out of the trees on the road's edge. She swore and rode up abreast of him, their combined mass blocking the road to shield Rhys more effectively.

"I thought I told you to stay put," She growled as she drew her ax. Ike, cutting low and felling another axman, panted back,

"I did. They spotted Rhys and charged."

"I'm sorry for putting your protege in danger," Rhys apologized behind them. Ike felt another cooling draft of air.

"Can't be helped now," Titania answered. She held her pace back to match Ike's as they slowly advanced up the road. A swordsman charged out of the rocks to Ike's left, and both mercenaries swore in unison at not having seen him. Ike stepped backward and knocked the man's head clean off with a single slice. Titania lifted an eyebrow.

"Getting better," She noted. Rhys retched behind them, noisily vomiting into the ditch. This was the first time he had seen so much raw death. Ike felt a little green himself. Ahead of them, a couple of bandits stood, pale as they saw most of their comrades fall under the controlled power of the two mercenaries.

"Fetch," Titania said, and Ike, finally unleashed, ran up the hill-path to meet them. A couple of moments later, it was over. Titania carefully dismounted, holding her ax in front of her, as Ike walked back down the path to check on the priest, who was now pale and murmuring prayers over the dead bandits. She came out of the cabin, carefully wiping a couple of blood spatters from her otherwise gleaming armor. A small statuette was tucked under her arm.

"Praise the goddess!" Rhys said, and hurried up the path to meet her. He took the statuette, apparently unprepared for its weight. He frowned and examined it more closely. "Do either of you have a small knife?" He asked, having seen nothing but their larger weapons. Silently, Titania handed him hers.

Rhys took it with a quiet word of thanks, and, murmuring a quick apology to the goddess, pried gently at the edge of her golden hair. It scratched easily, revealing more of the same underneath. He looked up at the redhaired knight, confusion written on his face.

"This figure is only brought out during festivals," He explained. "I've only seen it on the holidays, and didn't know ours was even missing. But I'm fairly sure that the one from our village was gilt over soft wood. This one is pure gold."

"That would explain the merchant's interest in 'retrieving' it." Titania said, anger tightening her features. Ike and Rhys looked at her in some confusion, but it was Rhys who understood first.

"You mean, you think that the headman and the merchant had heard about this one and wanted it for themselves to sell?" He asked. Ike's eyes widened slightly, and narrowed again in disgust. He may have made his money killing people, but he did not go around stealing from the goddess!

Rhys's face mirrored the expressions of the two mercenaries. He carefully wrapped the statuette and stowed it gently within his robes. Looking at them, he said in a mild tone of voice,

"Commander Greil always treated me well when he called on my services. Do you perhaps need the permanent aid of a healer yourselves?"

"Such would be welcome," Titania answered. She pulled the reins over her horse's head, wrapping them firmly in a fist as they walked into the woods together in the direction of the compound.

"Hey, Titania?" Ike suddenly remembered. "Where's Shinon?"

She sighed. "He muttered something about having to play babysitter for Rolf and Mist and refused to come. When I pressed him, he snapped at me that he had only stayed on out of respect for Commander Greil, and that I had no right to give him orders any more. He becomes more bitter about his decision by the day, I think."

"Oh, dear." Rhys said. "Well, if he is resentful about watching these children, I could keep an eye on them for you while he accompanies the two of you. As you just saw, I am not particularly well suited as a battlefield mage."

Ike said nothing as the other two continued to talk. In his mind, he felt that he already knew why Shinon was suddenly so resentful- it was him.


	3. Captured

They never made it back to the compound. The three of them had fallen silent as they walked, but it was a comfortable, easy silence since they were familiar with these woods. Abruptly, Titania stopped and looked around, her eyes scanning the trees.

"Titania, what-" Ike started to ask, when an arrow out of nowhere took Titania in the side where the two pieces of breastplate fit together. She clutched at it and fell sideways. The horse panicked. Rhys leaped to her side with the staff as Ike grabbed at the reins of the rearing animal before it could trample the downed woman.

"Don't move," A voice commanded as Ike brought the animal down. He glanced over the saddle to see half a circle of men in burnished black armor.

"Surrounded," Titania gasped, her voice thickly filled with pain. Rhys started to protest, and Ike heard the sound of a fist meeting flesh. The priest fell heavily against his legs. Hands tugged at his scabbard, tearing his sword free and away from him. On the other side of the horse, a soldier in black unstrapped Titania's lance and handed it to the person behind him, then took the reins from Ike.

"Who-" He started to demand, but a fist encased in a metal gauntlet struck the back of his head- not hard enough to knock him out, but with enough force to hurt.

"Silence. Support the wench and march." Came the order.

It took three days to reach the capitol. The three prisoners were kept in silence the entire time. Titania grimly held herself up, using Ike's arm and shoulder for support. All understood that if one of them fell behind, there would be no waiting for them to catch up. The first afternoon, when the march was halted so that the soldiers could drink water and rest, Ike was fairly badly beaten as he ignored orders to stay where he was while he bound the sluggishly bleeding wound in Titania's side. That night, Ike heard a gasp and quickly rolled over. A soldier leaned over Titania. Ike started to crawl to his feet, but the soldier motioned for him to stay in place and stay silent. He dropped the arrowhead that had been in her side to the ground. Ike froze, but watched the man carefully. The man poured liquid out of a wineskin onto a piece of cloth and wiped it over the wound. Titania ground her teeth to remain silent. The soldier nodded approval and tightly bound the hole with strips of cloth. When the wound was tended to, he gently supported the woman as he offered her a drink from the wineskin, then placed her armor back on her torso, signaling for Ike to come and strap it back into place. When that was done, he laid the injured woman back on the ground, saluted Ike, and disappeared back into the shadows towards the horses.

The next morning, Ike couldn't tell which of the men in black had been the kind one, but he was grateful as Titania seemed a little stronger. The ritual was repeated the next night, and Titania was not leaning as heavily on Ike when they walked through the ruined gates of the capitol.

Ike had never seen such devastation. Bodies were stacked in the streets, men and women alike. Ike soon realized that every one of the bodies held some sort of weapon, even a blood-stained knitting needle in one case. Children hid in the charred remains of houses when they saw the soldiers escorting the strangers. Ike was puzzled to notice that while the women cast resentful or fearful looks at the soldiers, there was none of the sort of trauma he would have expected. Glancing into the icy, unemotional expressions of the soldiers that guarded the streets, he shuddered. This had been a methodical butchering of all resistance- by the most disciplined and controlled army he had ever seen in his life.

The officer who greeted their escort looked almost bored. "What is this, corporal?"

"Local militia, sir," The leader of the soldiers who had captured them straightened to attention. "They offered no resistance, but we neutralized the woman just in case."

"I see." The officer turned to Titania. "Tell me about your militia unit, wench."

"No unit," She said, her voice scratchy from days of disuse and pain. "I'm an independent mercenary. This is my son and a village healer we know."

"I see." He said again, and unsheathed his sword, pressing it to Titania's throat.

"Stop it!" Rhys shouted, his voice cracking. "Titania's telling the truth!"

"Titania, huh?" Abruptly the small courtyard had fallen silent. "A redheaded mercenary named Titania." Soft mutterings broke out from all of the black-armored soldiers. The corporal paced around them. The second time around, there was an almost cruel smile on his face. Rhys looked about ready to cry. It seemed that in trying to save her, he had said something he shouldn't have. The corporal leaned in very closely. "I'll believe the mercenary bit, but independent? I heard you were still running with Gawain."

_Gawain?_ Ike thought. He'd never heard the name in his life.

"Gawain's dead." There was an obscure note of pain in her voice as she said that. "My son and I've been acting alone since my mercenary company broke up a few months ago."

"Yes, yes. Went berserk, killed his wife, committed suicide." The officer's voice was dismissive. Titania's jaw tightened again. The corporal smiled that cruel smirk again. "But I wonder. Did Gawain really commit suicide ten years ago? I wonder...Priest!"

"Y- yes, sir?" Rhys stammered.

"What was the name of her mercenary commander?"

"G-greil, I believe sir."

"Greil, or grail?"

"Sir?" Rhys was confused. All eyes were focused on the little group now.

"How oddly foolish of him to take a name from his greatest of quests. And yet... no one ever paid attention to a small band of mercenaries with a commander named Greil. No one even thought of linking the two. Titania, was Gawain the same person as Greil?"

Titania closed her eyes. She seemed to be caught in the grip of some sort of internal emotional turmoil. In the end, she decided that since Gawain was dead, there was no point in resisting anymore.

"Yes." She said. Her voice was nearly a whisper.

The officer nodded, seeming satisfied. Then his eyes fell on Ike and widened. He leaned in closer, then paced around him the way he had Titania.

"Your son, you said?"

"Yes." Titania's voice was defensive. Ike was so wrapped up in the confusing mix of lies and truth that he didn't know what to believe now. He was still caught on the fact that his father was apparently someone he didn't know, someone that an invading army knew by first name. Why? Why was there more to Greil that his own son didn't know about?

"Gawain's son, too?" There was a leering innuendo there that brought a chuckle out of the soldiers. Titania's face flushed very deeply for some reason.

"No!" Her reply was extremely forceful. The officer's smug expression faded and he glowered at her.

"Boy, what's your name?" He barked.

"Ike." Unlike Rhys, there was no fear in his voice as he answered. The officer's chin came up and Ike met him stare for stare.

"He has Gawain's attitude," The man commented.

"I have my father's attitude," Ike answered.

"Ike!" Titania hissed. The officer paid her no mind, done with her for the time being.

"What was your father's name, boy?"

Ike, his anger not completely clouding his judgment, realized that Titania wanted him to deny his parentage to these soldiers for whatever reason. Without flickering an eyelid, he said the first name that came into his mind, that of the person he had been enraged at for days for standing them up back at the bandits' fort,

"Shinon."

There was a chuckle. The officer whirled to face the offender, a local man who was carrying a stack of Crimean armor.

"What's so funny, peasant?"

"I've met that Shinon once before. He is an arrogant little sot, and this kid does take right after him," The man explained, still laughing. This did not endear him to Ike, who did not think he was being all that arrogant, but at that moment Titania could have kissed the man for unintentionally saving all of their rear ends.

"So you don't fight for Crimea?" The officer demanded, trying to regain control of the situation.

"We fight for whoever offers us the most money," Titania answered. The officer shook his head in a show of deep sadness.

"To think that the great Titania would have sunk so low," He said, then gestured for one of the men to come and take control of them again. "Perhaps you'll find your honor again before King Ashnard arrives... in the dungeon."

*&*

The questions continued to surge through Ike's mind as he sat on the cold stone, his cloak wrapped tightly around him. He wanted to ask Titania, but the three of them had been separated. He lost track of time, only noting its passing by the unemotional guard in black who brought him his meals.

It took the sound of combat to bring him back to full awareness. Running to the door of his cell, he was astonished to recognize the silhouette cast by the flickering torchlight. Shinon backed down the last couple of steps, firing arrows up the staircase at his pursuers. At the bottom, the dungeon guards leaped to their feet and charged him. Shinon grinned at them devilishly, waiting until the last second to dodge their blades. Three of them lost their balance, and two accidentally chopped into their own comrades, unable to stop the velocity of their blows. Ducking around the last three, he ran across the open space in the floor and jumped onto a table, drawing arrows from his quiver as he did so. As the three turned, straining to see where he had gone in the dim light, Shinon coolly dispatched them with a single arrow apiece.

Dropping lightly to the floor, he frisked the guards until he came up with a set of keys. Dropping the coins he had discovered into his own pockets- a move that filled Ike with distaste, though he was glad to see his rescuer-, Shinon moved lightly to Ike's side and opened the cell door.

"It's way past your bedtime." He said, with a sneer that let Ike know he had been present for their questioning. "How many times do I have to tell you to be in by sunset?"


	4. Explanations

"Why did you go and tell them I was your father?" Shinon asked, leading the way down between the cells. Ike held a sword he had scavenged from the weapons rack on the wall. "I didn't think you liked me any more than I like you, whelp."

"Titania didn't seem to want them to know who he was. Since I was mad at you, yours was the first name that popped into my head." Ike answered evenly.

"Listen up, you-" Shinon's tirade was cut off by the sound of a moan from behind them. Ike turned and lifted his torch. Inside the cell was the most beautiful woman Ike had ever seen, lying unconscious on the filthy floor. He drew in a breath, then turned and placed the torch firmly in Shinon's hand, snatching the keys as he did so.

"What do you think you're doing?" The archer demanded.

"Those creeps in black want her in here. That's good enough for me." Ike said, wrestling the door open. Sliding the sword through his belt- he hadn't wanted to rob the dead of a scabbard-, he bent down and picked up the woman. Coming back out of the cell, he lifted an eloquent eyebrow at Shinon, who led the way deeper into the dungeon, muttering.

They found Titania first. She came out, still holding her side. "Ike, what in the-"

"She was in one of the cells," He interrupted. "I wasn't about to just leave her there."

Titania nodded, then stepped forward to look more closely at the girl. She went pale and looked back up at Ike.

"Keep her close," She said, her voice shaking slightly. "You seem to be holding the last survivor of the Crimean royal family."

"You mean..."

"Yes. That is Princess Elincia Crimea."

*&*

When they came to Rhys' cell, they were happily surprised to find he was holding his staff.

"The guards decided that it was useless as a weapon and some of the more superstitious ones thought that it was bad luck to steal a holy item from a priest." He explained, stepping out to meet them. He quickly healed Titania's side, and she sighed with relief. He then noticed Ike and his unusual burden.

"Is she hurt?" Rhys asked, concerned.

Shinon pointed silently to a trail of blood at her hairline, evidence that someone had not been careful with the royal person. Rhys quietly chanted a prayer over that as well.

The woman stirred slightly and opened her eyes. Confusion and fright played over her face as she saw the group that surrounded her.

"Please be at ease, Your Highness," Titania said with a tiny bow. "We are mercenaries of Crimea. While not in service to the throne, we are loyal to our homeland."

Ike glared in Shinon's direction, hearing the derisive snort at the declaration of patriotism.

"You know me?" The princess asked.

"I recognized you as soon as I saw you with Ike." Titania answered.

"You saved me, My Lord Ike?" She asked. Ike wasn't quite sure how to answer that, so he asked in turn,

"Can you stand?"

At her hesitant nod, he gently lowered her, supporting her until she had her feet underneath her again. The whimsical notion briefly passed through his mind that he was becoming a flying buttress for women, as many as he had been holding up recently. He dismissed the thought.

They had almost won free of the dungeon when shouts ahead let them know that someone had found the guards Shinon had feathered. The mercenaries all looked at one another, and Ike turned, shoving the princess and Rhys into one of the open cells. Titania, divining his intention, moved in front of it to protect the two of them. Shinon already had arrows in the air.

It was over very quickly. Only one soldier got past Shinon, and Ike had him down in an instant. He glanced over his shoulder to see Rhys shielding the princess's eyes, looking rather queasy again himself. Once they were out of the carnage zone, Rhys saw to healing the nicks Shinon had picked up in the skirmish. Titania ducked down a side passage and returned with a scabbard for Ike, an ax tucked into her belt, and a short spear that she carried in her hands.

"I only wish we could get Ophelia," She said.

"Ophelia?" Princess Elincia asked.

"My horse."

"Oh!" Elincia exclaimed. "That is most fortunate! My Lord Uncle told me of an escape route in case the palace was besieged hidden under the stables! There is even a ramp built specifically for horses! The trap door is under the hay in the last stall- it was made extra large for that purpose, and just used to store hay. It comes out far in the countryside, near my Lord Uncle's estate."

"Fortunate, indeed," Titania answered. "And now we have a plan and the means to execute it. Let's hurry."

*&*

They had to blind Ophelia to get her down the ramp, and once again, Ike's cloth belt came into play. Titania went first, leading the mare, followed closely by Rhys. Ike gently helped the princess down the slope, and Shinon came last, covering them with his bow until all were in the passage, then he and Ike tugged the trapdoor shut.

"Where's Mist?" Ike asked, remembering that Shinon's reason for refusing to come had been that he was watching Ike's sister and his apprentice.

"I left them with an old lady I know." Shinon answered shortly. Ike, knowing that Shinon wasn't going to be any more civil than that walked forward to catch up with the women and Rhys.

"-ncle rode out to meet the approaching force. Only one of his scouts made it back," Elincia was saying. "He was not at all coherent, saying only that it was definitely a force of Daein soldiers and that they stretched for miles."

"I knew Crimea wasn't on friendly terms with Daein, but to invade so suddenly?" Ike asked. Elincia turned to face him. Her face was full of pain.

"I don't understand it either, My Lord Ike. When the castle was breached, they killed my Royal Parents. They were going to kill me as well, but their commander spoke up. He said-" She broke off shuddering.

"Yes?" Titania asked gently.

"He said- he said that orders had been to keep at least one woman of the Blood alive for King Ashnard. He said that I wasn't to be touched or harmed in any way. He said- he said that the sacrifice needed to be alive, uninjured, and of sound mind."

"Sacrifice?!" Ike demanded, stunned.

"That's what they said. We had heard rumors that King Ashnard dabbled in some sort of foul sorcery, and apparently those rumors are true." She shuddered again, and Ike took off his cloak, wrapping it around her shoulders. She clutched it, and gave him a wan smile of thanks. "While I was in the dungeon, some of the guards were talking excitedly about a campaign into Gallia. I need to find passage on a ship to warn King Caineghis."

"We'll take you," Ike offered, impulsively. She smiled warmly at him, an honest smile for the first time.

"We're not in the charity business," Shinon said from behind them. "I remember that we need to eat, even if you don't."

The princess blinked, then quickly reached up and pulled off her earrings. "These were my mother's." She said, offering them to Ike. "I understand that they would be quite valuable."

"No, we-" Ike glared at Shinon, who stared stonily back at him.

"Princess," Titania interrupted, taking the earrings. "Most of us would help you in either case. But Shinon is right. We do have to think about getting passage and provisions. However, I can assure you that we will try to find any way possible to get these things without selling your heirlooms. I will hold on to them, but I swear to you upon the lives of those I took an oath to protect that I will not dispose of them without speaking to you first. That should satisfy everyone here." She shot a sharp look at Shinon, who pushed ahead of them, stalking off into the dark tunnel ahead.

"Well, then," Ike said, trying to push past the awkward moment. "On to Gallia!"


	5. Night Battle

Emerging from the darkness, Titania took a critical look at the pale young princess who had led them out of the palace. Elincia looked tired and pale, not to mention that she was unused to walking for seven miles through catacombs. The older woman turned to Shinon.

"Go get Mist and Rolf and bring them back here," She ordered. She gestured with her chin to the walled estate that used to belong to the Duke. "I think we should let Her Highness rest here for a couple of hours."

"With people pursuing us?" Shinon objected. "They'll look for her to take shelter in places she knows."

"Then you'd better return quickly, hadn't you?" Titania asked, sweetly. Muttering, Shinon grabbed Ophelia's reins and disappeared into the woods. Ike glanced overhead at the position of the sun.

"I hope you're better at cooking than I am, Titania. Otherwise, we're not going to have much of a lunch."

"We'll manage something," Titania said. She and Ike drew their weapons. Rhys and Elincia looked surprised.

"You escort the princess," Ike explained to Rhys. "Titania and I are going to make sure that no Daein soldiers have beaten us here."

The place was deserted. Rhys made the meal, while Titania insisted that she and Elincia stay in the kitchen. Ike was placed on guard duty in the corner keep, keeping an eye on the main gate and the back servants' entrance.

It was after nightfall when Shinon returned, afoot and leading the horse which now held the two young kids. Rhys put the two children to bed (both of them curious as to who the pretty sleeping lady was), while Titania took over guard duty. Slightly before midnight, she roused Ike, Shinon, and Rhys.

"I saw movement in the woods," She reported. "Ike, I want you to come with me to the front gate. Shinon-"

"I got it. Servants' entrance for me." He said, and took off down the hall at a jog. Rhys picked up his staff and followed Ike and Titania. The three of them had no sooner gotten into position when the black-armored enemy began to file out of the forest. The estate was conveniently set up at the top of a hill, meaning that the Daein soldiers were forced to slow as they charged towards the waiting mercenaries. Ike and Titania smiled tightly at one another as they heard Shinon's shouted taunts from the back, followed by the sharp _twang_ of his bowstring.

The slope of the hill wasn't great enough to tire the Daein squad _that_ much. Ike, afoot and with the shortened reach of his sword against their lances, found himself faltering. Inwardly, he hoped that he hadn't been holding Titania back too much in the last week or so. Rhys, noticing his weariness, slipped out of the shadows to heal the young swordsman. His white robes gleamed in the moonlight, making him a good target for the archers lined up behind the rank of pikemen. The priest gave a shout of pain.

"Rhys, grab the vulnerary out of my hip pouch and get back to cover," Ike yelled over the sound of clashing weapons. He felt Rhys tug the potion free, and heard the sound of his retreating footsteps. He decided to shift his tactics, only counterstriking when he was hit and letting Titania do most of the actual attacking.

It worked. As her ax hewed through the ranks, the archers found themselves suddenly exposed. Ike took out the two closest to him, and let Titania do the rest. The rest of the Daein soldiers grouped at the base of the hill, their jaws agape.

Rhys stepped forward again, healing the cuts on Titania's hands, legs, and face. The first they were aware that the other three had woken up was that Elincia stepped forward leading a saddled Ophelia. She offered the reins to Titania. Rhys nodded encouragingly.

"Ike and I can go help Shinon," He offered. Titania gave him a feral grin of thanks and grabbed her hand ax from its straps on her saddle. In one smooth motion, she mounted and charged down the hill.

"Princess, please return inside where it is safe," Ike said. He took her arm and half-led, half-dragged her back inside, then took off for the back entrance with Rhys in tow. Slipping up behind Shinon, who was beseiged by three lance men, two ax users, and an archer, Ike tapped him on the back.

"It's me," He said. "Get healed."

Shinon gave a brusque nod and ducked behind the swordman, who took up his stance just outside the door. Ike met the opponents as they came, Shinon picking off those he wounded over his head. Ike didn't even notice the slight injuries he was taking until he heard Rhys say,

"Please let me by. I need to get to Ike."

Shinon pushed past Ike, standing next to them. Ike felt the now-familiar healing power of the goddess wash over him. He nodded his thanks, standing side-by-side with his rival, wondering when he and Shinon had become such.

After a couple of minutes, one lone pikeman still stood. He wavered for a moment, then turned and ran. Shinon started to go after him, but Rhys caught his arm. The archer started to say something snide, then changed his mind, ducking back inside the walls. Ike followed and slammed the door shut, blockading it with the strong iron bar he found.

They met Titania back inside the kitchen, where she was rousing Mist and Rolf. There was no need to say anything. The seven of them silently gathered all of the non-perishable food they could fit on a pack mule they had found in the estate's stables and slipped out into the dark woods, heading south.


	6. Entering Gallia

They peered out at the river from the edge of the trees, apprehensively watching the group of men that guarded the bridge.

"Did they know we were coming this way?" Ike asked, as Shinon swore softly behind them.

"Maybe they're just securing all routes. Or this might not have anything to do with us at all. Maybe this is to keep an eye on who's entering and leaving their newly conquered territory," Titania answered. She turned to Shinon, who sighed gustily.

"I know, I know. I watch Her Highnessness and the kids," He said. His face displayed his discontent.

"You will need me," Rhys said, his jaw set stubbornly as he looked at Titania. She met his gaze for a moment, and then nodded. Shinon grumbled something. No one was particularly interested in hearing what it was.

"Stay in the trees until we need you," Titania ordered. She looked at Ike, who unsheathed his sword and nodded. The two of them charged out into the clearing, slowed somewhat by the river-side mud. There were shouts of surprise, and Ike found himself suddenly surrounded by three pikemen. This did not make him happy, but at the very least, they were paying attention to him and not anyone else who might be in the trees. He parried a stab, then saw a clearing and cut the man from shoulder to hip, kicking him off the blade. The other two faltered. Titania, meanwhile, was concentrating on getting the archers before they could sight on their dependents.

There was a masculine scream of pain from behind him, and he turned to see the princess shuddering as she pulled a short dagger out of the second pikeman, who had tried to get behind him. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched the man die.

"Get back with the others!" Ike shouted, horrified that she had exposed herself to danger- and that a woman under his care had needed to kill someone.

"He was going to kill you, My Lord!" Her voice broke, as she was unable to bring herself to look away.

"Don't argue," He growled, his attention diverted by the final pikeman. The immediate danger gone, he turned, forcibly shoving her back into the tree line. Rhys, his eyes wide, tugged the princess back by Shinon as Rhys jumped to Ike's aid. Titania had taken up a defensive posture in front of the treeline, and, seeing that they were all fine, she rode forward, luring in and dispatching of a cavalry officer and a heavily armored knight. Rhys ducked out of the trees and rushed up to heal her as well, Ike hot on his heels. Cautiously, Ike and Titania guarding Rhys, the three of them crossed the bridge towards the soldiers waiting for them on the far bank.

Ike didn't notice the green sigil on the last plank until he stepped on it. A violent burst of wind hurled him to the ground. In the moment of distraction, while Ike was climbing back to his feet, a group of five soldiers charged them. Titania reached back, pulling her lance out of its straps left handed, even as she hacked at the first pikeman with her right hand.

Ike caught the downward swing of a swordsman on his blade and returned the slash. His second strike missed. He and the swordsman circled for a moment, neither one noticing that their footwork brought them into Titania's range. She stabbed downward with the lance over Ike's head, finishing the man. As Ike freed it from the corpse, she twisted in the saddle, wrenching a poleax out of another soldier's hands as she chopped off his arm with the ax she held in her right, then finished him off. Ophelia wheeled, bringing a general in range. Titania savagely chopped through his armor. He turned and tried to flee.

"Coward!" She roared, charging after him and dispatching him just as the vulnerary left his lips. She dropped the poleax and wounded the final soldier with the ax she still held in her right hand. Ike ducked around the side of her horse (narrowly avoiding being kicked) and finished him off. As Titania brought the prancing horse to a standstill, Ike reached up and reattached the lance to her saddle. Both mercenaries cleaned their weapons as Rhys healed them. Shinon brought the children across the bridge, followed by Elincia. The woman looked sickened, but she made herself look at the carnage.

"Princess-" Ike began to say. This time, she cut him off.

"These people are dying for me," She said, a harsh note in her voice. "I should at least face that responsibility, rather than trying to hide from it."

"They're not dying for you," Titania answered her. "They're dying because their king is a foul man who attempts to destroy anything he touches. And he has reached out to grasp Crimea." The mounted woman looked around her. "I know this area-" She began to say, then looked up the side of the hill at the fortress overlooking the river. She went still.

"Titania?" Ike asked. Receiving no reply, he shook her arm. "Titania, what is it?"

Almost inaudibly, she answered, "Ike... you were born in that castle."


	7. Promises

The small group entered the courtyard together. Ike looked on his childhood home with some surprise and confusion, trying to remember playing right there in the grass. He didn't remember a thing. Titania stabled Ophelia, and when she returned, her face was tight with anger.

"Someone's been here, recently." She said. Ike wondered what had been going through his mentor's mind the past several days. She had not been acting like her usual collected self.

"Titania, if this was my father's keep, we left it years ago. If we abandoned it, it was kind of up for grabs," He said, trying to talk her down. She shook her head. Ike sighed, scanning the keep with his eyes, trying to conjure some memory that connected him to this place. He had nothing. However, he did notice something else. "There's no sign of movement in any of the top floors, or on the ground floor," He reported quietly. "But there are lights in the basement."

"Storage rooms," She answered, her own voice dropping. Shinon sighed and started to shoo the kids and the princess into the stable. Ike tried to catch his eye to nod thanks, but Shinon wasn't looking at either of them. Rhys followed as the two mercenaries edged into the building and down the stairs. The corridors branched. "I'll go left, you go right," Titania said. "Rhys, you're with Ike."

"Understood," Rhys answered. Without another word, they split up. As each mercenary turned their respective corner, they saw the hallway patrolled by black-armored men almost at the same time. Feeling justified in their actions, they moved to the attack. Titania rushed down the corridor, her ax felling a man as she passed.

Ike, however, moved to engage the pikeman head-on, as Rhys faded into the shadows against the wall. From a doorway to his right, a man stood up with a shout of surprise, flinging his ax overhand at Ike, who dodged. The corridor dead-ended straight ahead, with a man standing there with a javelin. The three soldiers surrounded Ike, who finished the pikeman. He stood in the doorway, blocking the axman from the hallway as he engaged him. The javelin scratched his back as the soldier in the corridor saw his chance. Ike was not amused. _Stupid!_ He scolded himself. _Blocking a doorway only works if there are soldiers on only one side of it!_ He quickly took care of the axman and turned to face the soldier with a javelin. Dropping him as well, he motioned to Rhys, who ducked into the room and healed him.

"Thanks," Ike said, then noticed the strangely-shaped sword on the wall. He unbuckled his own sword and handed it to Rhys, who nearly dropped it because of the weight. Ike showed him how to adjust it, and then turned to take the reinforced sword from the wall- sharpened and curved to cleave through heavy armor. He had a feeling he might just have use for it.

Meanwhile, Titania dispatched of an archer, mildly contemptuous of him for trying to use a bow in such tight quarters. In a narrow side corridor, she saw two heavily-armored men. She glanced at the spear leaning against the wall, and decided against it. Giving a battlecry, she charged the two men, her ax clanging on their armor. The space was too narrow for them to move freely, and they hampered one another. She dropped one, but the ax blade caught in the other's armor. As she tried to tug it free, he scratched her face and neck with his spear blade- he didn't have enough room to properly stab, so he attempted to intimidate her, drive her back. She heard movement behind her, and she wrenched the ax free at last. Turning, she ran back to where she heard the movement and found a knife fighter.

"I came back for this?" She asked, dispatching of him as well.

As she had expected, the armored knight had followed her. She turned quickly, and heard his spearpoint clash against her side. "I love my armor," Titania said, and smashed her ax into the hole she had made earlier. He twitched, hit the ground, and lay still. She hurried up the hallway, trying to remember the layout of Gawain's castle. Turning another corner, she found herself looking across a main corridor at Ike, who was peering out of the room on the other side of the hall, through a second door into the room. He pointed over his shoulder at Rhys, who lifted his staff to show her he was alright. She nodded, but the sounds of running boots cut off what she was bout to say out loud. Carefully peering down the corridor, the two stepped back, looking across at each other in some mild alarm.

Titania pointed at herself, then down towards the way they had come in, then at Ike and up the corridor into unexplored territory. He nodded, and the two of them charged their respective directions. Ike was very quickly glad he'd found the strangely curved weapon. Soon, however, he was surrounded by about eight men. He folded his lips grimly and tried to block the entire hall to keep them from getting past him and discovering the priest.

Out of a room to his left, six arrows flew in succession, striking down four of his opponents. The sound of a bowstring breaking and a foul oath told him that his backup was Shinon. "I'm out, kid. It's all up to you," The sniper shouted. Ike nodded. A sound from behind him made him throw himself sideways, back to the wall, but the danger was averted by Titania cutting down the mage. Titania stooped, grabbed the grimoire, and tossed it in to Shinon. "We certainly don't need it, but neither do they," She said. Side by side, the two of them progressed up the corridor.

It was over soon enough. A determined looking Princess Elincia came into the fortress, leading Rolf, who was pale and shaking. Mist had her eyes very tightly closed, and was holding on to the young boy's arm. Ike started to say something- he wasn't sure what, or even whether it was addressed to Shinon, Elincia, or Rolf himself- but Elincia held up a hand to stop him.

"I ordered Shinon to aid you," She told Ike. "Rolf and I were more than up to the challenge of defending ourselves against the four guards who found us."

"Your Highness, you ought not to be putting yourself into danger," Ike said, his teeth clenched as he tried to control his temper. "Our job is to keep you safe."

"She's not bad with a sword," Shinon said, leaning against the wall. "And Rolf is quite competent with a bow- more so than you were capable of fighting at his age. Which is why I'll be leaving in the morning."

"What?" Titania asked, her voice shocked. "Shinon, you can't-"

"I can, and I will," He said, his voice firm. "I agreed to stay and protect the Commander's children. You don't need me any more- that has been made quite clear. I'm not going to stay here and make myself a target for the entire Daein army, which I will be traveling with the three most wanted. So I'll be on my way. It's been a blast."

He turned and walked down the corridor. At the door, he turned back, saluted them with a sardonic wave, and disappeared into the night.

*&*

Ike sat up very late that night. He leaned against the windowsill, his head resting on the cool glass. The window was open a very small crack, and the sound of the river could be heard from outside. A light step alerted him to a presence, but he didn't bother to turn.

"What is troubling you, my lord Ike?" Elincia asked, stopping near him.

"I used to fish with my father in that river," Ike said. "I remembered. The trees didn't encroach so closely ten years ago, but I used to run down that path and play on the water's edge, while my father caught fish. I used to go to sleep in that room across the hall, and my mother sang lullabies to me and Mist. She had a peculiarly shaped mark on her palm, and it would glow while she sang."

Elincia said nothing.

"I didn't think anything of it," Ike continued. "My daddy was a great warrior. He would go off to war and fight, and then come home to us. He trained for battle every day of his life. My mommy had a pretty voice. That was just the way things were."

Now he turned and faced Elincia. "I don't know anything about them, now. What was that mark on my mother's hand? Why did we live on the border between beorc and laguz land? Why did my father own a castle? Why is he known to me and Crimea as Greil, but to those Daein soldiers as 'Gawain'? Princess, I don't know who I am."

Elincia started to say something, anything to comfort him, but Ike raised a hand, cutting her off as she had stopped him earlier. "I know only one thing," He said, his voice very serious. "And that is that no matter what else happens, I am going to protect you. I am going to help you find the Gallian laguz, and then I will follow you wherever you choose to go. And someday, I will discover the truth about myself. I swear it here, in my childhood home. I will keep you safe, and I will find out who I am."


	8. Sewers and Taverns

The carriage wheels clattered loudly on the paving stones as it passed. Ike looked around somewhat bewildered. He wasn't the only one. Titania sat astride Ophelia, holding Mist in front of her on the saddle. Rhys was holding his staff and turning slowly in place, trying to watch the crowd and orient himself. Elincia and Rolf were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are we?" Titania asked. People parted to pass around the pair, seeing the armored woman on a horse. The passerby wore loose robes of a sort that they had never before seen, and they in turn looked at Titania with some fear. She quickly dismounted to make herself and the young girl less of a target.

"I've never even heard of a place like this," Rhys confessed. "But perhaps we shouldn't be standing in the middle of the road."

"Titania," Ike said urgently. "This has happened to me before. Remember when I got lost in the woods last week? I wasn't in the woods- I was in a desert somewhere. Someone used some sort of transport spell."

"But we were just in our beds. We would have noticed someone enter the room, right?" Mist asked. Someone bumped into her, and she fell backward. Ike caught her, then noticed something.

"Mist, did you take off your necklace at the castle?"

"My-" Her hand flew to her throat, and her eyes opened wide as she realized it was gone. Ike shoved her into Titania's arms and took off running. The man glanced back, and he, too broke into a run. Ike's suspicions were confirmed. He groaned as the man opened a sewer grate.

"Lovely. Just like some sort of adventure novel." He muttered. "Thief in a bazaar steals the item and leads the hero into a trap under the city. Well done, Mr. Transporter."

Just in case the mage had some way of watching his amusement, Ike gave a rather filthy gesture to midair and climbed down the ladder after the thief.

*&*

"What was he thinking?" Titania fumed as Ike was lost in the crowd. "We'll never find him again in all this."

Rhys felt something tugging at his robe. Considering the most recent event, he said only, "You'll find nothing to steal. I am a very poor priest."

There was no response. Warily, Titania and Rhys moved until their backs were to a wall. Rhys carefully slid a hand inside his pocket, and frowned feeling a piece of parchment. He drew it out and unfolded it. It read _One of our number left a decade ago, searching for Gawain. Where is he?_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Titania asked, reading over Rhys' shoulder. "Why would some faction in a place we've never heard of have someone looking for the Commander?"

"I don't know," Rhys said. He looked up at Titania. "We just have to find out who left this message in my pocket."

"But Ike-"

"May have been lured away from us on purpose." Rhys reasoned. "Which means that waiting here will achieve nothing. Maybe whoever is toying with us will let us go home if we find the connection."

*&*

Shafts of light filtered down from the sewer grates overhead, but that only served to make the shadow seem denser. Ike carefully picked his way along the service ledge, trying not to step into the foul stream. The man he pursued had no such delicacy, splashing freely as he ran. Ike was glad for the echoes- he would have lost the man long before for sure, rather than being able to tell that the man had taken a branching tunnel or the like.

Abruptly, the running stopped. Ike froze, and very dimly heard a door open and slam. He pounded his fist on the wall. There was a very slim chance that he would find it in this gloom. Carefully, he continued forward, hoping that the door would muffle the sounds of his approach. He scrutinized the wall for the door.

He was astonished to find luck with him. The outer edge of the door was marked with a dark substance. Ike didn't want to try to speculate on what that was. He was more astonished to see a circle filled with the swirling design that covered the amulet that Mist wore as a necklace inscribed just below the doorhandle.

"-ks like a real one, a relic of the Sky People!" An excited voice said. Someone scoffed, but was cut off by the question,

"Where'd you get it?"

"A group of outlanders had it- but the one who wore it looked like she might be a very young Sky Person." The first voice bragged. "Except that she had no wings."

"Then if it is real, she stole it." The questioner said. "Either that or she's a half-blood."

"Half-bloods have them marks!"

"And for all you know, hers was on her boobies. You check her boobies, son?"

"Marks?" Ike asked aloud. There was instant silence from inside the room and he cursed himself. Deciding he would have to take the initiative, he threw open the door and barked, "I want my mother's medallion back right now!"

The thief and the one who had scoffed jumped to their feet. The man who sat at the table, looking at the medallion looked up lazily. "This belonged to your mother, huh, kid? Who was your mother?"

"I don't know. She died when I was young." Ike answered honestly. He didn't see the harm in admitting that.

"She have wings?"

"No, but there was a strange mark on her hand. It glowed when she sang."

"Did this thing ever glow when she sang?" The man looked very intent. Ike, a cold shudder running down his back for no reason that he knew of, lied.

"No. She wore it every day of her life, and everyone just thought it was some pretty trinket she picked up from the clay merchant."

"Clay?" The man asked sharply. He drew his fingernail along the back. White powder scratched off under his fingernail. He tossed it at Ike, who caught it easily.

"It's a fake!" The man roared at his underling. "If it were real, the Sky Daughter's kid would have made it glow when he caught it! It's made of clay, not stone!"

Ike turned and ran for his life. Slamming the door behind him-

-He faced the inside of his room at the castle. He turned and jerked open the door again, looking up and down the castle hallway. He crossed the hall and pounded on Titania's door. There was silence. He yanked the door open and looked in. Empty.

"My Lord Ike?" Elincia opened the door, looking rumpled in her gown. Her lovely reddish-brown eyes were sleep fogged. "Is something the matter?"

"I'm sure Titania just decided to patrol. I got concerned over nothing," Ike lied. "Go back to bed. I'll wake you if I can't find her downstairs."

Elincia nodded, yawning, and closed her door. Ike returned to his own room, wondering what the mysterious mage's agenda was, and when Titania, Rhys, and Mist would return to them.

*&*

Titania walked into the common room of the tavern. The 'keeper looked at them in some confusion, but approached them, his hand outstretched in welcome.

"Lady, what may I do for you?" He asked. Titania smiled and took the hand with a slight bow.

"A week ago, a message came for my Commander, stating that there was a mercenary ticket to be had for the Greil Mercenaries. However, the message had suffered some water damage and the contact information could not be read. I came to discover the source of the message. In the meantime, we will be needing two rooms- one for myself and our mage, and the other for our priest. Can it be arranged?"

"We only have one room available, I'm afraid," The innkeeper told them. Titania turned to leave. Rhys put a hand on her arm.

"I'd rather not split up anyway, Titania," He confessed. "I can take the floor, you and Mist can share the bed."

"Splendid!" The innkeeper said, not willing to let a prosperous-looking mercenary walk out of his tavern without lessening her purse at least a little. "And your Commander is named Greil?"

"Actually," Titania said, her smile somewhat less sincere, "I'm here on behalf of Lord Gawain. That name might serve to be recognized a little more readily."

"Oh, of course," The little man said, not recognizing either name, but assuming her patron must be very powerful indeed if she expected his name to be known without any explanation. Her displeasure was nearly palpable, and he hurried to have a pallet made up on the floor for her healer. By sunset, exactly as she had hoped, every tavern and guardpost in town knew there was a lovely, red-haired foreigner at the Fighting Knave who worked for Lord Gawain.

*&*

Also, as she had expected, a hissing voice and a knife to her throat woke her from her sleep.

"So you are Gawain's lover. Answer me truthfully, and I will let you live. I am a mindreader, and will be able to tell. Where is our brother?"

"I don't know who you people are, so obviously I've never met your brother or I would recognize your Order." Titania said. "Mind telling me what this is all about?"

"Gawain was married to the Heron Branded, was he not?"

"Titania, what's going on?" Mist's voice piped in the darkness.

"Stay still and quiet," Titania warned, putting her arms around Mist both in comfort and as a warning to the assassin. "Yes. This girl is their daughter."

"She wore the Seal. There are many in our city that worship the Seal in its many forms. The Seal of the Herons is the most powerful. If the cults manage to get their hands on it, many hideous things will occur. One of our number had information about the cults for Gawain and left to find him ten years ago. Could Gawain have known about this and not told you?"

"Not a chance. Apparently, your brother never found us. We were in Gallia at that point."

"I see. If Volke should ever find you- the brotherhood misses him. If you kill him- we will eventually discover it and kill this girl. Understood?"

"Yes." Titania's voice was grim.

"Then sleep." A powder drifted through the air, falling across the faces of the warrior woman and the terrified Mist.

When they awoke, Ike was sitting on the edge of the bed looking at them. "I want to know everything there is to know about my mother's mark," He said. "After we get the Princess to the Gallian king."


End file.
